One of the most popular forms of literature in Japan is that of “kaidan.,” literally meaning “strange story,” during the Edo period, but over time “kaidan” has come to specifically mean stories of “yūrei,” or “Japanese ghosts.” Many Western academic studies concerning kaidan thus far are concerned with the genre’s shift from religious didactics to secular entertainment. This is an important evolution to keep in conversation with this project; However, this study will argue that ghosts work as Edo symbols for failing boundaries within an isolationist society. Two of the main texts in this project are translations by Lafcadio Hearn, being “Mimi Nashi Hōichi” and “Jikininki.” The other two main texts used are translations of “Banchō Sarayashiki” by Zack Davisson. In my study, I identify breaches of boundaries within social order in these texts using the aid of Mikhail Bakhtin’s “the grotesque,” Julia Kristeva’s “abject horror,” and Jacques Derrida’s “hauntology.” / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Basil Hall Chamberlain and Lafcadio Hearn were two of the best known western interpreters of Meiji Japan. In their correspondence as well as published writings, they commented on the conclusion of the Aoki-Kimberley treaty of 1894 and the subsequent end of the "unequal treaties" and the treaty port system in Japan. Chamberlain, a resident in Tokyo for over two decades, was most concerned with the fate of foreigners in Japan who would be adversely affected by the end of extraterritoriality and the favourable commercial privileges which they had enjoyed since 1858. He was critical of the jingoism of the nationalistic reaction which developed during the course of treaty negotiations. Hearn, in contrast, praised this national or "racial" spirit and credited it with Japan's success at the negotiation table. Partial to ideas of racial difference and conflict, Hearn viewed the new treaty as evidence of the resurgence of an oriental race against the forces of western imperialism.

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